(Reproduced here is an extract of a Public Lecture given by Professor Amuthasakaran on "International Oppression and the Future of the Eelam Tamil Nation.")

The word holocaust originally signified a sacrifice when a whole animal was ritually burnt to ashes in the Jewish temple. This word acquired a new meaning in the middle of the last century thanks to the evil intentions of some European nations and some of their totalitarian rulers. For us Tamils in our pre-modern and modern history holocaust was solemnly inaugurated by the colonial terrorism of the Portuguese that came under the form of European conquest of our land, our people and our rulers and religion in 1526. More than seventy thousand Tamils including our king and his progeny were mercilessly slaughtered to satiate the bloody lust of the Portuguese conquistadores to steal and rape our land and its wealth. Then the Dutch colonialists came bringing along with them mercenaries from Java and other areas and brutalized our soil and murdered over 120000 Tamils. Unlike the p[people of the South of Sri Lanka who ceded their sovereignty to the Dutch terrorist masters we Tamils fought for our land and in which we have lived peacefully for over two millennia. British colonial barbarity entered our land around 1796 and they gave a constitutional guarantee and ensured its continuity by handing over our sovereignty to the Sinhala-Buddhist.

The most recent ban of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is to be seen in this light. This ban is a new incentive for Tamil holocaust by the Sinhala nation. The declaration of Tamils as terrorists is certainly a premeditated collective endorsement of Sinhala state terrorism by those very nations who inaugurated Tamil genocide in the 16th century. In many parts of the world this is exactly what European nations did and are still doing. As the most vulnerable people in the world we Tamils have no option but to struggle for our survival. We should use all means at our disposal and above all our unity and our collective will and stand together to struggle against this organized evil that seeks to destroy us.

If the EU nations strongly believe in Democracy as the will of the majority or of a head count of numbers, then EU nations do not require any special research to internalize the fact that more than 80 per cent of Tamils whether they are living in Sri Lanka or outside are with the LTTE. Defying any ban and suppression the Tamils do not shy away to proclaim their unstinted support to the LTTE. This is borne not out of any particular form of a romantic love hate relationship with a group that originally emerged as a guerilla outfit with all the negative and positive qualities of a guerrilla group that fights for the freedom of a people but it emerged out of sheer thirst for survival. The permanent and persistent relationship and whole-hearted support and sustenance that the world Tamil community and particularly the Eelam Tamil community gives to the LTTE is borne out of the sheer conviction that the LTTE has become the last bastion of the very existence of the Tamil nation.

Thanks to the advancements made in the communication industry there is a remarkable swiftness with which news reporting is relayed from remote corners of the world. The Allaipiddi massacre of Tamil families by the Sri Lankan navy with the support of its armed mercenaries from the EPDP were graphically portrayed on millions of computer screens. Through their diplomatic channels as well as their trade partners and other agencies the so called world community knew everything, but it did nothing, absolutely nothing to stop the carnage of Tamil civilians from Vanklai to Pesalai, from Allaipiddi to Ariyalai. Yesterday 61 Tamil children were bombed to death by the Sri Lankan air force. Through their indirect connivance with the Government of Sri Lanka, the EU nations share in solidum the moral responsibility in the death of these innocent children.

Have you ever noticed when scores of Tamils were murdered, maimed and mutilated by the Sinhala government the EU nations kept a stoic and stony silence. These nations give the impression that Tamils are not human enough to have the Human Rights codes applied to them. Within the last seventy two hours more than two hundred innocent Tamil women and children have been blown to bits by shell blasts, rocket blasts and aerial bombardments by the government of Sri Lanka. If this goes on for another few more weeks there will be hardly any Tamils left in the Tamil homeland, perhaps this is what is surreptitiously planned and foreseen by the EU nations when they declared the legitimate representatives of the Tamils as terrorists. The provocative and anti-Tamil and anti-Hindu statements made by the pro-Buddhist fanatic Elizabeth Nissan, a consultant to the EU nations who worked assiduously to declare the Tamils as terrorists is a clear manifestation of our contention and conviction.